Online extra: DHS setting up support systems

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As the Homeland Security Department plans a freestanding IT structure for the department, it also is working to wean itself of support services provided by DHS component organizations' former parent agencies.

DHS has brought 70 percent of its service lines of support into the department, Thomas Reinhardt, chief of staff in the Office of the Undersecretary for Management, said recently at a Washington meeting of the Industry Advisory Council.

'That was the legacy IT systems,' Reinhardt said. 'We will get to unitary service delivery models over time.'

After opening for business last year, DHS set up support service arrangements with several of its 22 agencies' former parent agencies.

DHS officials identified 255 separate lines of support that the predecessor agencies provided to DHS components. About two dozen of the services covered IT activities, such as LAN and WAN support, mainframe operations, help desk support and network operations.

To manage reorganization of the often duplicative services, officials identified 5,610 lines of support across the 22 DHS agencies that the department needed to bring in-house.